Page 47 of The Spotlight Effect

“Come on. Let’s leave him be,” I say, turning around.

“Will you go back to Charlie’s room or stay in yours?” I’m slightly hoping he comes back to his room, which I hate.

“I’m sure we can sleep close to each other and not kill each other.” I smile to myself, hoping he can’t really see it as we make our way to his room.

We lay shoulder to shoulder in the bed, staring up at the night sky through his glass ceiling. “This is my favorite spot in my room, which is why I had to move my bed here,” he whispers to me.

“Why?” I whisper back.

“I like stars. Or at least looking at them.”

We lay there, just looking up and he tells me about the constellations, while I lean my head closer onto his shoulder and listen. Without knowing it, I fell asleep. This time, I dream of good dreams. Dreams with Grayson Archer in them.

LIMELIGHT

ALEXIA

The house is dim when I walk in. It’s about nine-fifteen a.m. Friday morning and I know no one's asleep, but it’s still quiet here. In a big house like this of course you can’t hear the others around. If anything, I know my mom is probably having her morning cup of coffee before she does yoga then she will get ready to go to the recording studio. Lia is most likely on the phone with Astrid.

I make my way to the kitchen to see if my mom is in there and once I walk in, I see her talking on the phone.

“Lex, come say hi to Stephan and Dex,” she says, waving me over. I walk over into the frame of the facetime call and stand beside her.

“Hey, guys.”

“Hey, Lexi Wexi, how’s Hollywood treating you?” Dexter asks.

“Don’t call me that, but it’s fun, I like it here,” I answer. I have to think about that for a second because I’m not sure if that’s the right thing to say.

“I’m glad you’re having fun. You don’t do a lot of that here,” Dexter says.

“I do too! I do cheer and hang out with Faith,” I tell him, defending myself.

“Exactly! You spend hours practicing cheer, and you spend almost all your time with Faith and you go to college,” Dexter explains.

“You’re just mad because you have nothing to do,” I say, walking away from the phone. I go and get my water, then head to my room.

Time to get ready.

My biggest dream is about to happen. I’m going to recordmy songat Golden Star Records. I’ve been dreaming of this moment ever since I was little when my dad first bought me a Hannah Montana guitar at five years old and taught me to play. I knew then, watching that Disney show, I wanted to be a star. The life of a pop star was for me. I never thought I would actually have the chance to record my song though, especially at my dream record label.

“For what it’s worth, you deserve this,” Lia says, as the limo stops right outside the tall building with mirrored panels.

“Thanks,” I respond, trying to play nice. Fez comes around and opens the door for us. I exit first, taking Fez’s hand letting him help me out, then my mom and Lia follow.

“I shall return once you are finished.” Fez bows and turns to go back to the limo.

“Have a great time with your hours off,” Mom tells him, and he just nods.

He really doesn’t talk much.

“Miss Kirby, we welcome you to Golden Star Records. Please follow me to meet with Mr. Ryker.” A man in a nice button-up and dress pants walks up to us. He's wearing a gold name tag that says ‘Denis’. We follow Denis inside after the doormen open the door for us. We walk into a large lobby area that has mirror ceilings, with amazing chandeliers hanging from them, glossy marble floors, a seating area in the center with the front desk toward the back by a hallway that says cafeteria. To the far right is another hallway by a grand piano. To the left is a photo wall with a headshot of every artist they have signed here, and below it is a monitor that flashes telling you what's upcoming in next to it a directory. To the back left are four golden elevators and a water bottle fill station.

I look up and around, seeing balconies above me and people walking with my reflection.

This is so much better in person. I take a video of the lobby as I follow Denis to the elevators so I can send this to Faith. I’m never deleting this video.

Denis presses the button summoning the elevator as we wait and it doesn’t take long for the golden doors to open. I’m not surprised to see the inside of the elevator is also golden. Denis presses a floor button once we are all inside and I watch as the floors go up until we stop at floor twenty-two. It’s said that each artist has a floor space, this must be theirs. I honestly never believed that rumor because no outsider has ever really been inside Golden Star, but today on this Friday I am.

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